All News

The transition from volume- to value-based care seems like common sense, yet, there are conflicting opinions regarding what this transition could mean for emergency care, and what measures will truly change practitioner behavior.

A bicameral effort is quickly gaining traction in an effort that would forever change the sustainable growth rate (SGR) and Medicare reimbursement model.

Palliative care adapted to specific high-risk patients' needs can reduce emergency room visits, improve overall care and drive down healthcare costs, but the current policy and practice framework presents numerous obstacles to its implementation.

About 29,000 people successfully navigated HealthCare.gov and selected an insurance plan on Sunday and Monday, more than the entire number of people who were able to enroll through the federal exchange during the month of October, according to a person familiar with the project.

Medicare has agreed to allow specialist medical societies to determine the quality measures physicians will report when the new reporting system goes into effect on Jan. 1.

The individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act was intended to incentivize uninsured Americans into purchasing health insurance on the exchanges. However, latest findings show that the penalty may not be enough.

In a medical system notorious for opaque finances and inflated bills, nothing is more convoluted than hospital pricing, economists say.

President Obama leaves the White House on Wednesday for one of the capital's most struggling neighborhoods to talk about the economy, not simply to divert attention from his troubled Affordable Care Act but to explain how that law, for all of its flaws, fits into his vision for Americans' economic security and upward mobility.

By all accounts, the shopping experience on HealthCare.gov has improved significantly. That means customers can routinely access information about what health plans and subsidies are available and select the product of their choice.

Reigning in costs is a key component of healthcare reform. So it is clear why it will be essential for both providers and policy makers to identify those most at risk for driving up costs.

Like half the states, South Carolina chose not to expand Medicaid under the federal health law next year, citing the program's high costs and inefficiency.

Much of the healthcare spotlight has been squarely focused on the federal and state implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Yet, there is another fundamental shift in policy that is occurring at the private level that will change the way health insurance is offered to consumers.

Research on how tools impact health, costs is 'inconclusive,' but clinicians say better-informed patients avoid unnecessary care, frustration

Limited provider network options in the healthcare insurance exchange are causing concern that is not unlike the backlash managed care organizations received in the 1990s.

Officials in at least a half dozen states are pushing back against health plans in the new insurance markets that limit choice of doctors and hospitals in a bid to control medical costs.

Almost 80 million people with employer health plans could find their coverage canceled because they are not compliant with ObamaCare, several experts predicted.

As the CMS begins the second year of a penalty program for preventable hospital readmissions required by the healthcare reform law, new research indicates that hospitals fare better when they focus on patient care more generally rather than targeting specific conditions, such heart failure, or specific timeframes, such as 30 days post-discharge.

23andMe Inc., the Google Inc.-backed DNA analysis company co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, was told by U.S. regulators to halt sales of its main product because it's being sold without marketing clearance or approval.

The aftershocks of states choosing not to expand their Medicaid programs are being felt nationwide.

The spending slowdown is about more than the recession (which ended in 2009) -- it's also structural, a significant part of the slowdown can be tied to the impact of the Affordable Care Act.

Another day brings another delay for the federal health law known as the Affordable Care Act.

In what is likely to be a relief to dialysis providers, the CMS decided to phase in the controversial payment cut to dialysis providers over a three- to four-year period.

Patients with diabetes who received prescribed heart medications by mail were less likely to visit the emergency room than those who picked up prescriptions in person, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.

Beyond keeping patients well, today's healthcare providers must keep them happy.

The Obama administration plans to push back by a month the second-year start of enrollment in its health program to give insurers more time to adjust to growing pains in the U.S. law, a move that may stave off higher premiums before the 2014 congressional elections.

To ease insurance sign-ups that have been slowed by federal website problems, CMS officials have announced that individuals and families now can enroll for exchange health plans directly through insurers and still qualify for a federal premium subsidy.

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aims to reform healthcare nationally, the way in which the law is implemented will vary on a state-by-state basis.

Health information technology (HIT) innovation will positively impact and enhance physicians' ability to deliver effective care.

As Americans have begun shopping for health plans on the insurance exchanges, they are discovering that insurers are restricting their choice of doctors and hospitals in order to keep costs low, and that many of the plans exclude top-rated hospitals.

Oregon, a state that fully embraced the Affordable Care Act, is enduring one of the rockiest rollouts of President Barack Obama's signature health care law, with an inoperative online exchange that has yet to enroll a single subscriber, requiring thousands to apply on paper instead.